Firms should back Bradley Center

The issue: A push by the Bradley Center and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce to get area corporations to buy sponsorships totaling up to $6 million per year

Our stance: Firms need to step up and support the building if the community wants to get the Milwaukee Bucks to sign a long-term lease.

It is very clear in the current political environment that a new basketball arena will not be built in downtown Milwaukee over the next several years.

That is why it is important that the Bradley Center and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce are successful in their current effort to get area corporations to buy sponsorships totaling up to $6 million a year to maintain the building until a new downtown arena can be built.

The success of the sponsorship push could be critical to the Bradley Center’s ability to retain the Milwaukee Bucks, the building’s main tenant. The Bradley Center is one of the oldest arenas in the National Basketball Association and faces significant costs for both maintaining and updating its structure and amenities.

The Bradley Center sponsorships would be separate from sponsorships being sold by the Bucks, Marquette University or the Milwaukee Admirals.

Business executives often talk about how the fact that Milwaukee is a major league city with professional baseball and basketball teams helps in recruiting employees and enhances the community’s image. This is their chance to show how important the team and the building are to the community. If a firm can’t afford a sponsorship, how about buying tickets for an event or looking for another way to help?

Bradley Center chairman Marc Marotta also is looking for financial help from the state and the city of Milwaukee. The state provided a $5 million grant in fiscal 2011, but rejected a similar request last fall. Marotta wants the city to participate, possibly through revenue from a nearby city parking structure.

Gov. Scott Walker and Mayor Tom Barrett need to step up and support the Bradley Center, given its important impact on the community.